BrightPay Connect: More than just a cloud back-up

In BrightPay’s 2021 customer survey, we asked you which features of BrightPay Connect you were aware of. While the majority of customers were aware of all BrightPay Connect’s features, there were customers who admitted that they use BrightPay Connect solely for its automatic back-up of payroll data to the cloud. 

It is understandable why this feature is of the utmost importance to many of our customers. The thoughts of something happening to your computer and you permanently losing important payroll data just doesn't bear thinking about. Also, the convenience of never having to manually back-up data again is a time-saver that you now could not live without. 

However, if you are only using BrightPay Connect to back-up your data to the cloud it means you are missing out on a wide range of features that could benefit you, your business and your employees. You may feel the value of our cloud back-up feature is enough to justify the amount you pay for BrightPay Connect but by not taking advantage of our many other features, you could be missing out. 

Employer dashboard

Even if you are only using BrightPay Connect as a cloud back-up, you should already be familiar with the employer dashboard. From the dashboard you can view all employees’ contact details, employees’ payslips, any outstanding amounts due to HMRC and reports that have been set up in BrightPay on the desktop application. Here is also where you will receive notifications when there are tasks that require your attention, for example if you have a new employee leave requests to complete. From the dashboard, employers can also access a company-wide annual leave calendar, making it easier to manage all staff leave.

Employers have the option to invite as many users as they wish to the BrightPay Connect employer dashboard at no additional cost. Colleagues can be added as co-administrators, or an external accountant can be added as a standard user which will give them access to the payroll data which has synchronised with the payroll software.

Employee self service

When you use BrightPay Connect you can invite employees to access their own self-service platform through any computer, tablet, or smartphone. Once logged in, employees will have the ability to:

• View or download all past and current payslips
• View or download other important employee documents which have been shared with them such as contracts of employment, staff handbooks, P60s etc.
• View their own personal annual leave calendar and their leave balance remaining
• Request time off anywhere, anytime; even on the go, straight from their smartphone
• Receive push notifications on their mobile when their newest payslip has become available, when a leave request has been approved or denied or when a new document has been made available to them
• Request updates or changes to the information their employer has on file for them

When employees have access to their own self-service platform, it means the employer can better manage their staff while giving them a sense of control and flexibility over their work life. Giving employees the power to access documents, request leave and update their information through their phone means less time spent by employers or managers on administrative tasks. 

BrightPay Connect’s multi-user access feature means managers can be assigned to deal with annual leave requests from specific employees. For example, if you have a sales department, the Sales Manager can be assigned to deal with all requests from that department.

To start taking advantage of these great benefits simply log in to your employer dashboard to send your employees a welcome email containing instructions on how they can log in to their own self-service portal. View here for more information on how to get your employees started. Or why not request a free online demo of BrightPay Connect to learn more about how it works.

Related articles:

• Pay Employees Directly through BrightPay
• 6 payroll mistakes (and how to easily avoid them)
• Up your Payroll Game with an Online Client Portal

Posted byElaine CarrollinPayrollPayroll Software